Parc de Montjuïc

Green Space and Museums on Barcelona's Magical Mountain

Located in the district of Sants-Montjuïc, the Parc de Montjuic constitutes a green space that through its parks, museums and sporting facilities provides an easy way of escaping the often claustrophic city centre.

It was probably here on this broad shallow hill overlooking a natural
harbour that the Celt-Iberians founded the first settlement that would
become Barcino with the arrival of the Romans.

However, with a
height of nearly 200 metres, Montjuïc's relationship with the city of
Barcelona hasn't always been benevolent and after 1714 the occupying
Castilian troops established a fortress at the top from where they
bombed the city on a number of occasions throughout the 18th and 19th
centuries.

The Castle of Montjuïc has been the site of numerous
executions, the most celebrated being those of numerous anarchists in
1897 and the execution of Lluís Companys, President of Catalonia
throughout the Spanish Civil War, by General Franco's troops in 1940.

Prior
to this, much of the hill including the entrance from Plaça d'Espanya,
the Magic Fountains and the Poble Espanyol had been developed in
preparation for the 1929 Universal Exposition.

Also completed in
1929, the Olympic Stadium would have held the alternative anti-fascist
Olympic Games in 1936 had the Spanish Civil War not broken out.

The
second great period of development for the Parc de Montjuïc came in the
lead up to 1992 Olympic Games when the Olympic Stadium was refurbished
and the area known as the Olympic Ring was developed.

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